[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 248 (Wednesday, December 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 79223]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30664]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 35208]


Winamac Southern Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--A. & 
R. Line, Inc.

    Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement,\1\ A. & R. Line, 
Inc. (A&R) has agreed to grant overhead trackage rights to Winamac 
Southern Railway Company (WSRY) between milepost 71.5 at or near Van 
and milepost 74.5 at or near Logansport, a distance of approximately 
3.0 miles in Cass County, IN.\2\
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    \1\ A redacted version of the trackage rights agreement was 
filed with the notice of exemption.
    \2\ The involved line was acquired by A&R from WSRY in A. & R. 
Line, Inc.--Acquisition Exemption--Winamac Southern Railway Company, 
Finance Docket No. 32694 (ICC served July 6, 1995). However, WSRY 
continued to operate the line, as well as its connecting lines. 
Although WSRY and A&R entered into a trackage rights agreement for 
WSRY to conduct operations over the line, through oversight no 
Interstate Commerce Commission or Surface Transportation Board 
approval of the trackage rights was ever sought. According to WSRY, 
WSRY's operations under the trackage rights agreement have continued 
for 13 years and, in the interim, Central Railroad Company of 
Indianapolis took over the operations of WSRY, as WSRY's agent, and 
A&R was taken over by Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway Corporation. 
WSRY states that this filing was made to remedy the prior oversight.
    In a revised notice of exemption filed on December 17, 2008 in 
STB Finance Docket No. 35205, US Rail Corporation--Lease and 
Operation Exemption--Winamac Southern Railway Company and Kokomo 
Grain Co., Inc., US Rail Corporation seeks to acquire the trackage 
rights involved in this transaction.
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    The earliest this transaction may be consummated is January 10, 
2009, the effective date of the exemption (30 days after the exemption 
was filed).
    The purpose of the trackage rights is to achieve operating 
economies and to improve rail service by making operations by WSRY more 
efficient.
    As a condition to this exemption, any employees affected by the 
trackage rights will be protected by the conditions imposed in Norfolk 
and Western Ry. Co.--Trackage Rights--BN, 354 I.C.C. 605 (1978), as 
modified in Mendocino Coast Ry., Inc.--Lease and Operate, 360 I.C.C. 
653 (1980).
    This notice is filed under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7). If the notice 
contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab 
initio. Petitions to revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) may 
be filed at any time. The filing of a petition to revoke will not 
automatically stay the effectiveness of the exemption. Stay petitions 
must be filed by January 2, 2009 (at least 7 days before the exemption 
becomes effective).
    Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Pub. L. 110-
161, Sec.  193, 121 Stat. 1844 (2007), nothing in this decision 
authorizes the following activities at any solid waste rail transfer 
facility: collecting, storing or transferring solid waste outside of 
its original shipping container; or separating or processing solid 
waste (including baling, crushing, compacting and shredding). The term 
``solid waste'' is defined in section 1004 of the Solid Waste Disposal 
Act, 42 U.S.C. 6903.
    An original and 10 copies of all pleadings, referring to STB 
Finance Docket No. 35208, must be filed with the Surface Transportation 
Board, 395 E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a 
copy of each pleading must be served on Thomas F. McFarland, 208 South 
LaSalle Street, Suite 1890, Chicago, IL 60604.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at 
``http://www.stb.dot.gov.''

    Decided: December 18, 2008.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Kulunie L. Cannon,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. E8-30664 Filed 12-23-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P